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Antipsychotic drugs may not address the root of the problem (Image: BSIP, Laurent/Science Photo Library)

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IT WILL come as no surprise to relatives. Doctors are resorting to powerful psychotropic drugs, such as antipsychotics and antidepressants, to calm patients with intellectual disabilities 鈥� even if they don鈥檛 have a history of mental illness.

鈥淪edating people may dampen the challenging behaviour, but won鈥檛 identify the source of the frustration,鈥� says Rory Sheehan of University College London.

Sheehan and his colleagues collected data from 571 doctors鈥� surgeries in the UK over five years. They identified 33,016 people with intellectual disability, 63 per cent of whom were prescribed some kind of psychotropic drug by the end of the study, despite just 34 per cent of the group being diagnosed with a mental illness.

Specifically, 9135 people were given antipsychotic drugs, although 70 per cent of them didn鈥檛 have a record of the kind of severe mental illness, such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, for which these drugs are usually prescribed. Those with a record of 鈥渃hallenging behaviour鈥� were more than twice as likely as those without to receive the medication (BMJ, DOI: ).

鈥淚t鈥檚 possible the doctors are prescribing them to manage the behaviour, but there鈥檚 very little evidence that these drugs work in these situations,鈥� says Sheehan. A person may be banging their head on the table because they have an ear infection, for example, in which case, an antipsychotic drug wouldn鈥檛 solve the problem.

聯A person may be banging their head because they have an earache. Antipsychotics won鈥檛 help聰

鈥淔undamental changes must be delivered, addressing a culture of 鈥榗hemical restraint鈥� and replacing it with individualised behaviour support,鈥� says Viv Cooper at the UK Challenging Behaviour Foundation. 鈥淲e鈥檝e heard from families time and time again about their loved ones being given high levels of antipsychotic medicine,鈥� says Dan Scorer at Mencap. 鈥淚n many cases they report serious side effects.鈥�

This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淭he wrong drugs鈥�